Catholic University’s effort in the fourth quarter proved enough for a win over the Elizabethtown men’s lacrosse team in a close game at Wolf Field on Saturday. The Cardinals took the last three goals in the game, all of which came in the fourth quarter. The final score was 8-10, giving the Cardinals the win.
Heading into the fourth quarter, the Blue Jays were tied with the Cardinals at 7-7. After an early fourth-quarter goal by first-year Joe Clark, the Blue Jays had their second lead of the day at 8-7. However, the Cardinals responded with two goals 16 seconds apart to lead 8-9.
Despite having a one-minute extra man offense after Catholic’s Jack Drexel was flagged for an illegal body check, the Blue Jays could not capitalize and failed to score again. The Cardinals added to their total with a goal from Cam Feldman when only one second remained.
Although the Cardinals came away with Saturday’s victory, a few Blue Jays had notable performances. Junior Russ LeClair completed his second career hat trick, scoring to give the Blue Jays their first lead of the day early in the second half. Along with making three goals, LeClair also had an assist for a goal by sophomore Tucker Keefer. Keefer also scored two goals and had one assist, which came on LeClair’s third goal. First-year Cody Larkin contributed to the team’s total with his first career goal, which tied the game early in the third quarter.
Catholic came out strong in the first half by jumping to a 2-5 lead in the second quarter. Etown responded with two more goals late in the second. By halftime, Catholic only led by one. After halftime, the Blue Jays responded quickly with two goals before two minutes passed. They were followed by a third with 8:04 left in the third quarter. “He always has great adjustments and words of wisdom for the team during his halftime speeches,” LeClair said of Head Coach Drew Delaney.
LeClair also had good things to say about his offensive coordinator. “Our offensive coordinator, Coach Rich Lefever, had a very good offensive plan for today’s game,” he said. “I wouldn’t consider any of my goals today goals that were created off of my efforts; Mike Specht and Tucker Keefer did all the work and just fed me on the crease for lay up goals.”
Some of the struggles for the Blue Jays included going 7-20 on face-offs in the game and going 0-3 in extra man offense opportunities. The lack of face-off victories for Etown cut into its time of possession during the game. In such a close game, the lack of scoring in extra man opportunities hurt the Blue Jays as well.
The Blue Jays are moving forward with a record of 4-4 after the game on Saturday afternoon. Against Landmark opponents this year, the Blue Jays are now 1-1 and look to bring that to 2-1 later this week. On Wednesday, Etown met the Scranton Royals, a team that beat Catholic 5-4 just a few weeks ago.
The Blue Jays fell to the Royals in a similar fashion, losing 9-5. Etown held a 4-3 lead entering halftime,but were unable to find the back of the net in the second half.
The Blue Jays will be back on Wolf Field this Saturday when they take on Lebanon Valley College at 3 p.m.
